Tradition

My family has a few traditions. Usually the tradition doesn't start out with the mindset that it will become a tradition but it just does.

Birthdays are always a time of anticipation especially for my kids. Months before their birthday they begin planning what food they want, gifts, friends and what they want to do. My littlest's don't understand time or days yet. We often hear them ask quiet frequently, "My birthday today?" Our response is leading them to our homeschool wall's calendar to show them their name and balloons that represent their birthday.

In our home we ask the soon to be birthday kid what breakfast, lunch and dinner they want. The past few years the day before the kiddos birthday I get to have special time in the kitchen with them making their cake. We bake it together and then I allow them the decorate it with as much or as little assistance from me. Its their cake!

I have a friend that when I began to get to know their family she would hang up a birthday banner the week of anyones birthdays. I LOVED the idea and anything that gives me an excuse to get my sewing machine out I especially love. I copied her idea and made a banner that now is hung up every week we have a birthday. I often turn the banner around after the birthday week just because I love having a banner hanging up in our house. Do you know we go 6 months with out a birthday in our immediate family? But for the 6 months we do have birthdays its every other month that we are celebrating. Our youngest is the only one who doesn't have a birthday month buddy.

After making our birthday banner I realized I could have done another pattern on the back saying Happy Birthday as well to change it up some but its fun to have an original and just like I teach my kids, "You make and design and learn how to improve." I am learning as a go with sewing and making things for my house. I get better each time I repeat a technique. I have been making a new Happy Birthday banner for my Etsy store but I put myself on vacation and well.......I'm still on vacation!!! I have a goal to someday (hopefully soon) to have a booth at a Christmas Bazaar, open back up my Etsy account, or sale from my home or Blog account. Right now though, my time is highly invested into my children and I often begin a project and I have learned now to be okay with it taking me 10x longer than it normally would.